According to TVLine, Brittany Snow and Aml Ameen have left the show as series regulars in what is reported as a "mutual decision." The two may guest star during the second season.

'Harry's Law' stars Kathy Bates as Harriet "Harry" Korn, a patent legal eagle turned defense attorney. The dramedy comes from David E. Kelley, so you know there's a quirk: Harry operates out of an old shoe store.

'American Dreams' veteran Snow played Jenna, Harry's secretary. Ameen, known for the UK series 'The Bill,' played Malcolm, a client-turned-paralegal.

The latest big-name celebrity in talks to return to television? 'Moonlighting' star Cybill Shepherd, who has signed on to star in ABC's 'My Freakin' Family.'

The 'Cybil' star will play one part of the overbearing grandparents of a mixed-heritage couple.

According to Deadline, Shepherd will play Nell, the mom of new father Raj. Shepherd's character will dress in Indian garb and clash with Raj's in-laws -- particularly Mo Gaffney's character Maureen -- over new baby Clark's upbringing. You see, Shepherd's character is concerned Clark will end up "white" like Raj did.

Shepherd recently completed a guest arc on USA Network's 'Psych.'

In other TV news ...

• Chloe Sevigny will play Lizzie Borden in a new HBO miniseries. The 'Big Love' star will also co-executive produce the project, about the infamous Massachusetts woman accused of murdering her father and step-mother with a hatchet in 1893. [Deadline]

• Kristin Chenoweth is also returning to TV with a role in Darren Starr's 'Good Christian Bitches' pilot. The 'Glee' and 'Pushing Daisies' star will play Darlene, the ringleader of the Texan group of ladies. [TVLine]

• Will Forte, of 'Saturday Night Live' fame, will voice a regular role on the animated 'Allen Gregory.' The show follows a 7-year-old boy who enters elementary school. [Deadline]

Talk about a nice Christmas present: 'The Mentalist' star Simon Baker has signed a new deal with Warner Bros. TV that will net him a producer credit and a nice $30 million payday.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Baker extended his six-year contract by one year, and will get a cut of the syndication profits. The CBS drama was sold to TNT for $2.2-2.3 million per episode for Warner Bros.

Baker's producer credit will begin in season 5.

In other TV news ...

• Conan O'Brien has apologized to Jimmy Kimmel for making a similar Sarah Palin joke. O'Brien issued his apology on air, saying he was unaware of Kimmel's joke from earlier this month. [WSJ]

• Chloe Sevigny said she would do another TV series once 'Big Love' ends. "I'm not opposed to another series but I don't think I'd do one in Los Angeles," she said. "I'd like to do a half-hour comedy on a cable network in New York where I play someone really glamorous and really goofy. That's my dream job!" [EW]

• 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star Lisa Vanderpump said she was verbally attacked at the Polo Lounge. "Last night at the Polo Lounge my friend, Robert Kovacik, was viciously attacked by an aggressive drunk...I am shocked and upset, merry Xmas," the star tweeted. [TV Guide]

'Big Love' star Chloe Sevigny didn't have much love for the show's fourth season, which wrapped earlier this month on HBO.

Speaking to the Onion's A.V. Club, Sevigny, who recently won a Golden Globe for her performance has Nicki, referred to the season as "awful," adding that the writers were "really pushing it" by "squishing too much" into such a short span of episodes.

"It was very telenovela," she said. "I feel like it kind of got away from itself. The whole political campaign seemed to me very far-fetched."

'Big Love' has been so over the top this season, with so many plot twists and shocking revelations crammed in, that it's seemed to take a perverse pleasure in its own excess. Some fans (like Time critic Richard Corliss) relish the Emmy-nominated show's game of "can we top this?", while others balk at the show's more head-scratching developments. What may be most frustrating about the current season is that it provokes both responses, awe and irritation, at the same time.

With the season coming to an abrupt end this Sunday, March 7 (after just nine episodes), it's worth looking back at the new problems with 'Big Love' that emerged this season -- and how the show can solve them in season 5.

(S04E08) "There is nothing about us that's the same and you know nothing about me." - Barb Henrickson

"Oh I know some...and I'm just getting started." - Marilyn Densham

The season is winding down and usually the plot endings that come to a predictable end do so just before the big shockers do. And that's what happened this week.

However, the surprise, one of many to come I'm sure, wasn't within the plot or the behavior of the characters or even the duality between good and evil of some of the supporting players in our little bigamy tragedy. It's the emotional reaction to the characters' connections and their endurance to endure that sneaks up on you and knocks your block off as you stand there all smug and self-aware that you were able to predict the ending. And it should. A show like this about much more than its plotlines and story shockers.

(S04E07) "My cope container is full. Do you hear me? It is ... FULL." - Barb to Margie and Nicolette after hearing ... well, everything

Believe me, honey, I know the feeling. My cope container is one of those extra large "Big Gulps" from 7-11 that can only be held in a car cup holder the exact circumference as an elephant's foot. And this week, even that wouldn't hold it.

It's natural for a show with 2,000 plus running plot lines to feel more overwhelming than an IRS audit, but it's starting to get a little less believable. That goes for both for the plots' plausibility and the surprise that none of the main characters has suffered the kind of complete nervous breakdown that can create the kind of police scanner activity that attracts the local "eyewitness" news crew.

Oh dear. All is not well in the Henrickson household. The claws came out on 'Big Love' (Sun., 9PM ET on HBO) when Barb, Nicki and Margene fought like cats and, well, cats.

"You're a flirt, Margene!" yelled Barb. "And that's a polite way of putting it! Just like your floozy mother. You just flirted your way into our marriage as the babysitter, and now you're a cradle robber!"

"F You, Barb!" said Margene. And Nikki added, "Slap her to her senses!"

In the world of HBO's polygamist drama 'Big Love,' three's company but four's a family. But what does five make?

Five seasons, that is, not five wives: According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO has already renewed 'Big Love' for a fifth season after just four episodes of its current arc. Despite the alacrity of the decision, however, it comes as little surprise given that the season premiere posted a 49 percent ratings increase over last year, while the season as a whole is up 13 percent compared to season 3.

(S04E02)"It's clear that Bill has a calling, I'm sure of it. Just maybe the wires got a little crossed. Maybe you're meant to be the next prophet of Juniper Creek." - Nicolette on the revelations that he should run for the State Senate

Just when I thought I had a handle on everything surrounding the swirling complex vortex that is Big Love, Bill decides the best way to protect his already complicated family from slipping even further out of each other's grasp is to run for public office. Politics, it truly is nature's weed whacker. It aims to clean up messes, even if it destroys everything surrounding it in the process.

Now that Roman is dead and almost buried, talk of a new prophet is rising. In the red corner stands Alby, a frail, shadowy, smarmy little man with plenty to hide and expectations to live up to that everyone knows he can't possibly meet. And in the blue corner stands Bill, a rock of a man with just as much to hide but an ambition and willingness to stand and protect his beliefs, even in the face of unfathomable scrutiny and ridicule. Who does it sound like would come out on top in this sparring match?

Did your favorite actors and TV shows score Golden Globe awards tonight? Let's take a look at how things shook out in the TV categories at the 67th Annual Golden Globes. Mad Men, Best Television Series - Drama. With competition from Big Love, Dexter, House, and True Blood, I'm really glad I wasn't picking the winner here. They're all fantastic. I wouldn't say that True Blood delivered its best episodes last season, so I don't have a problem with that one not winning (though I'm a big fan of the show). Mad Men is definitely deserving (especially the "lawn mower" episode), although Dexter and Big Love both had great seasons.

The new season of HBO's Big Love also brought with it a new opening sequence for the first time in its history and not everyone is in love with it.

Some readers of my review of the show's season four premiere made some well reasoned arguments both for and against the new sequence, something I didn't do because it wasn't included in the screener review HBO sent out before the show hit the airwaves last Sunday. It not only has a much different look and feel but it also has a new theme song, "Home" by the Engineers replacing "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys.

It's still early in the season, but I like the new sequence just as much as the old one. As for the song, well at least they didn't go with Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'."

Fans of 'Big Love' were greeted last night with an unexpected change: the usual opening sequence in which Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) skates around with his three wives to the tune of the Beach Boys' 'God Only Knows' was replaced with a much darker opening sequence.

In the new opening, which is similar to the season 4 teaser trailer below, we're greeted with Bill falling towards the camera, surrounded by nothing but black.

Season four of 'Big Love,' HBO's juicy drama about volatile life in a Mormon community, premieres Sunday, Jan. 10 at 9 PM. The tagline for the new season is "Hold on Tight," and we can't wait to do just that.

If you prefer not to know a single thing about the new season, do not read any further! Spoilers ahead ...

It feels like forever since Bill Hendrickson announced that he and his family would form their own religion and live apart from Juniper Creek and LDS and the rest of the state of Utah. And we also know that Roman Grant is dead, and unless Big Love is going in the direction of resurrecting the prophet like he's the real deal, that means Alby will be taking over for his father. Then there's all the business with the casinos, Nicki's teenaged daughter and her weird former husband, not to mention Margene's new business, Sarah getting married to Scott...